vi, 258 pages ; 24 cm

Jurgen Habermas is by far the most preeminent and influential philosopher in Germany today. The scope of his writings is remarkable. Their influence extends over a wide range of disciplines that include philosophy, social theory, hermeneutics, anthropology, linguistics, ethics, educational theory, and public policy. The impact of Habermas's writings on theology alone reaches from fundamental to political theology, from moral to practical theology. The significance of Habermas, Modernity, and Public Theology is twofold. First, it represents a genuine dialogue, an actual conversation, between Habermas and theologians. While theologians have appealed to Habermas's work in innumerable articles and monographs, he himself until now has remained silent. This book, then, is unique insofar as it offers the true give and take of dialogue. Second, this book focuses on Habermas's most recent work, especially his interpretation of modernity, his theory of communicative action, and his development of a discourse ethics. In so doing, it corrects some of the prevalent misreadings of Habermas within the theological literature devoted to him. In examining the relation between critical theory and a public and practical theology, the contributors note both the promise and limitations of Habermas's basic arguments and insights. They challenge Habermas as much as they learn from him. Sharing the conviction that religious traditions contain sources for interpreting human nature and society, they argue that if Habermas would attend more to the role of religion within life and society, he would more fully realize his project for a communicative rationality under the conditions of modernity and would offer a more comprehensive understanding of rationality, society, and modernity. Taking his own turn at the end of the book, Habermas responds to each of the contributors, comments on the broader theological reception of his work, and offers his own fascinating views on the function and development of religion in modernity and on the status and claim to truth of theological discourse. The work concludes with an extremely useful annotated bibliography covering Habermas's own writings, general introductions to Habermas and to critical theory, and works devoted to specific aspects of Habermas's thought

Chiefly papers first delivered at a conference held at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, Oct. 7-9, 1988, titled "Critical Theory, its Promise and Limitations for a Theology of the Public Realm."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-255)

A critical reception for a practical public theology / Francis Schüssler Fiorenza -- Theology, critical social theory, and the public realm / David Tracy -- Enlightenment and theology as unfinished projects / Helmut Peukert -- The church as a community of interpretation : political theology between discourse ethics and hermeneutical reconstruction / Francis Schüssler Fiorenza -- Communicative praxis and theology : beyond modern nihilism and dogmatism / Matthew Lamb -- Critical theory and reconciliation / Fred Dallmayr -- Pluralism, privacy, and the interior self / Charles Davis -- Theologia crucis and the forensically fraught world : engaging Helmut Peukert and Jürgen Habermas / Gary M. Simpson -- Rationality and the limits of rational theory : a sociological critique / Robert Wuthnow -- Transcendence from within, transcendence in this world / Jürgen Habermas

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